318 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
panying the members of the Club were the Mayor of Colchester (Cr. Arthur
J. Lucking,) Ald. Wilson Marriage (chairman of the Colne Fishery Board),
Ald. Gurney Benham, Cr. Jarmin, Mr. Edgar Martin (a member of the
Board), and Mr. G. L. Russell (manager), who superintended the arrange-
ments.
The Pyefleet steamed down to Colne Point, thus affording to the
visitors a line view of the estuary ; then, turning up-stream, dredges were
put down and a heterogeneous assemblage of oysters, Crepidula fornicata
in only too great profusion, starfishes, sunstars, ascidians, etc., soon
littered the decks. The visitors were told that the past oyster season had
been a poor one, and indeed scarcely a dozen living oysters were brought
up by the dredges.
At Peewit Island, in the Pyefleet Channel, the visitors went ashore,
and found a capital lunch awaiting them in the Fishery Board's Packing
Shed, provisions having been sent in advance from the Anchor Hotel at
Brightlingsea.
After lunch the President referred to the honour paid to the Club
by the presence of the Mayor of Colchester, who was their guest on the
occasion, together with Mr. Alderman Marriage and the officials of the
Colne Fishery Board. In reply, the Mayor thanked the President for his
kindly welcome and for the hospitality shown him. Alderman Marriage
supplemented his worship's remarks, and remarked humorously that
he "hoped we should be able to send a good order for oysters."
Some excitement was created by a high spring-tide, which invaded the
Packing Shed, and covered the whole island, condemning the party to
remain prisoners for an hour or more ; this enforced interval of idleness
was utilized by several irrepressible individuals to be rowed over to Mersea
Island, where a large number of coots was seen and some immature golden-
eyes on a large mere. Other birds observed during the voyage on the
Colne were black-headed gull, herring gull, cormorant, shelduck, mallard
curlew, redshank, lapwing, dunlin, ring plover, heron, and moorhen.
In mid-afternoon the party re-embarked on the dredger and returned
to Brightlingsea, where it arrived in a somewhat numbed condition from
the cold wind which had arisen during the day ; however, warm fires and
a substantial tea at the Anchor Hotel quickly restored the circulation
and revived the spirits of the visitors, and, after a ramble through the
shipbuilding yard, the return journey was made to Colchester.
In the evening, a reception was held at the Town Hall by the Mayor
and Mayoress, when, in addition to the members of the Club, the guests
included the Deputy-Mayor (Mr. A. Owen Ward), and various members
of the Town Council. The borough regalia were exhibited and were des-
cribed in detail by Alderman W. Gurney Benham. The objects exhibited
included :—
The mace, made in the 18th century (a.d. 1730) by melting up various
earlier silver cups and other vessels ; its weight is 17lbs. 3ozs. troy, or
12lbs. avoirdupois.
The Mayor's chain of office, which was presented by a quaker to a former
quaker-mayor.
The Mayor's theatre-ticket (date 1750), which afforded the holder free
ingress to the borough theatre.